Thesis supervision Wilhelmiina Hämäläinen 2021-2023

Topic outline

• Scientific writing for computer science
  Scientific writing is a special form of writing, very different from writing a letter or a novel! Mastering grammar is important, but the grammar alone doesn't make you a good scientific writer, since you need to master also the scientific argumentation. Since disciplines are different, they have also different needs for argumentation and their own style conventions.
  

  Here you can find material on scientifc writing specifically for computer science, whether you are writing a MSc thesis, scientific papers, or a dissertation. New material will appear here and you can make suggestions what topics should be covered or hint good sources.
  

  
  

  Writing a thesis
  

  • Scientific writing for computer science (lecture notes for the Scientific writing course 2006, revised 2021, intended to help in writing the MSc thesis) 
  • Critical reading and scientific argumentation
    
  • Chapter and section previews
  • Justin Zobel: Writing for Computer Science. An excellent book, useful for writing a thesis or a paper. In the Aalto library, available also as pdf.
  • David Evans, Paul Gruba, Justin Zobel: How to Write a Better Thesis. Springer, 2014. In the Aalto library.
    
  • William Strunk (and E. B. White): The Elements of Style. A classic writing style guide. Many editions freely available as pdf.
  • How to use figures drawn by other people in your thesis?
  • abstract (briefly elements)
    
  • conclusions (briefly elements)
  • discussion - see some tips here
    

  
  

  Writing a paper
  

  • Jari Saramäki: How to write a scientific paper?  presentation, especially relevant for writing a bio-data science paper, 

  
  

  Other
  

  Remember also Aalto's Writing clinic! There you can reserve a personal consultation with a language teacher and find plenty of useful material on scientific writing in general.